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The Souris School District was established formally, in Souris, in 1884. Originally occupying a wood frame structure, the school moved into a two-storey, brick building in 1894, designed by Brandon architect Walter Henderson Shillinglaw. In 1912, a second school building intended as a Collegiate, designed by architects Thomas Sinclair and Carter Hawkins Brindle, was erected by contractor Alfred Edward Bullock.
In January 1960, the school became Souris Consolidated School No. 2388 when it was consolidated with several districts from the surrounding countryside, including Breezelawn School No. 169, Riverview School No. 279, Whitefield School No. 473, Botany School No. 486, Huntingdon School No. 542, and Wolflea School No. 590. As other rural schools closed, such as Lily School No. 382, their students came here too.
The collegiate building was demolished in 1960 but the original building continued to be used until at least the 1990s. It too was eventually demolished.
Period
Principal
1890
Henry Lamont Adolph (1862-1940)
1890-1892
J. W. Edwards
1893
John F. Walker
1894-1896
John Wentworth “Buckshot” Beckett (1870-1953)
1896-1897
Thomas Lewis Arnett (1873-1952)
1897-1898
Charles Andrews Huston (1876-1922)
1898-1901
Samuel Henry Forrest (1873-1963)
1901-1902
Harry Harvey Greenway (1879-1906)
1902-1909
Joseph William Gordon (1868-1954)
1910
James Erron Stanley Dunlop (1882-1945)
1910-1913
?
1913-1916
Robert McKay Stevenson (1882-1970)
1916-1917
Sydney E. Clark (1880-1963)
1917-1920
William Dakin (c1873-?)
1920-1922
J. E. Cooper
1922-1923
Henry Dennison
1923-1929
Grace Frances Huntley (1891-1977)
1929-1930
C. J. Burrows
1930-1932
Melvin T. Woods
1932-1935
Wallace Henry McIntyre (1904-1960)
1935-1938
George E. Pickard
1938-1941
George Archibald Coulthard (1890-1964)
1941-1945
Maurice Raphael [Ray] Loree (1910-?)
1945-1946
Walter Humphrey Wilfred Walker (1908-1974)
1946-1947
Bertha E. Nelson
1947-1951
Samuel Alfred Wright (1900-1966)
1951-1962
James Alvin Leslie (?-1973)
1962-1967
J. J. Gisinger
1967-1973
M. Zuk
?
Wilfrid Laurier “Laurie” Tomasson (c1920-1998)
The early teachers at Souris School were Reverend J. M. Harrison (1883), George A. Crostwaite (1884), Louise Lynch (Spring 1885), Louisa Butch (Fall 1885), P. McTavish (Fall 1885), Henry Lamont Adolph (Spring 1886 - Spring 1887), John A. McKay (Fall 1887), ? (1888), and Henry Lamont Adolph (1889).
School Year
Teachers
1890
Henry Lamont Adolph (senior grades, spring), J. W. Edwards (senior grades, fall), Georgina Nesbitt (spring), Minnie Steele (fall)
1891
J. W. Edwards (senior grades), Lizzie L. Nichol (fall), Minnie Steele (spring)
1892
J. W. Edwards (senior grades), Alice H. Wood
1893
John F. Walker (senior grades), Alice H. Wood
1894
John Wentworth Beckett (senior grades), W. W. Bride (spring), B. Hunter (fall), Martha Slater (fall), Alice H. Wood (spring)
1895
John Wentworth Beckett (senior grades), Celia Calder, Belle Foster (fall), B. D. Hunter (spring), Martha J. Slater
1896
Thomas Lewis Arnett (fall) John Wentworth Beckett (senior grades, spring), Celia Calder, Jessie Dickie, Charles Andrews Huston (fall), Martha J. Slater
1897
Thomas Lewis Arnett (spring), Celia Calder, Jessie Dickie, Charles Andrews Huston, Martha J. Slater. (Fall records incomplete)
1898
Celia Calder, A. Colridge (spring), Jessie Dickie (spring), Lina DuVal (fall), Samuel Henry Forrest (senior grades, fall), Charles Andrews Huston (senior grades, spring), Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart (fall)
1899
Celia Calder (spring), Lina DuVal, Samuel Henry Forrest (senior grades), Maude McCrossan (fall), Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart
1900
Olive M. Bawden (spring), Lina DuVal (spring), Samuel Henry Forrest, Ray H. Hall (fall), Maude McCrossan, Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart, Alfred White (fall)
1901
Samuel Henry Forrest (spring, senior grades), Harry Harvey Greenway (senior grades, fall), Ray H. Hall, Martha J. Slater, Mary Stuart, Alfred White
Other teachers at Souris School included William John Wallace, George Love Dibblee, Richard “Dick” Moore, Eliza Briggs Dolmage (c1915-1922), Frank Harder (1930s), Leonore Cowie (1947-1948), Ila Clark Lang (1947-1953), Charles Middlemiss Langford, and Robert McIlroy “Bob” Cross.
Postcard view of Souris Collegiate, right, and Public School, left (no date)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2012-0037
Souris School with Collegiate in the background (no date) by A. J. Hatcher
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-1, page 14.
Souris Schools (no date)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, George Harris Fonds, Acc. 1979-141, P7454, Album 22, Page 36.Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.62118, W100.25712
denoted by symbol on the map above
“Souris,” Western Sun [Brandon], 7 July 1898, page 1.
“Souris,” Brandon Daily Sun, 25 August 1900, page 2.
“School Board meets,” Brandon Daily Sun, 18 July 1901, page 4.
Annual Reports of the Manitoba Department of Education, Manitoba Legislative Library.
“Brandon firm given contract,” Brandon Sun, 1 June 1911, page 2.
One Hundred Years in the History of the Rural Schools of Manitoba: Their Formation, Reorganization and Dissolution (1871-1971) by Mary B. Perfect, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, April 1978.
Summative half-yearly returns for school districts (A 0051), GR0571, Archives of Manitoba.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950.
Manitoba Permit Teachers of World War II, compiled by Louisa Loeb, Winnipeg: Hyperion Press Ltd., 2007.
We thank Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 August 2023
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